#mind the gooch

[jaw-bones]

🖤✨🍑 — ft. nepenthe & mallory [both he/him]~

[just1gnome]

Steeplechase 32 doodless..

And also those damn cats

[dejwritesarchived]

i need my fellow black people to just ignore the shaderoom for this full month (hell we need to ignore them forever). i am begging on my knees at this point.

[jort-storm]

umm... jrwi boys? Just one little question

what the fuck was episode 74

[blkkizzat]

PLSS KALI i need a whiff of those balls right after a workout. sweaty , musky testicles to the bridge of my nose im not kidding. can you imagine what those pits smell like after the gym 🤤🤤🤤. my mouth is watering in real time. but the way i wanna play w his balls in my mouth like two marbles swishing around im FERAL for that fictional dick. when im ovulating all i can think ab is toji doing me dirty in prone bone OH MY GOD i need that massive man fucking me into the mattress. like i need his balls to tense up when im around. he needs to know im his BEST eater. need his libido saying SLOW DOWN BITCH. i need him abusing my gspot just once 🤓☝🏽 and ill be set for life 😩. thank u gege for creating my baby daddy, now creat a scene in the manga where he comes back and breaks my fucking back and bed. this is very incoherent but jesus seeing yall talk ab tojis gooch made me wanna rant.

can i be 🦷 anon? pretty please?

HIII 🦷 nonny welcome pookies!! dflhjkadskfj prone bone toji yasss with like a foot on the back your head keeping you down...dfjklhsfdkjs gege needs to deliver toji doujin porn istg.

also you got me writing... smellygym!toji thots... imagine toji gets home from the gym and you just immediately attack him. he always works out hard so he lets you pretty much do your thing and love him and all his stinky down.

you do just that as your drag him to the couch, already having a beer open ready for him the second you heard his car in the driveway. haphazardly, you toss him the remote so he can watch whatever game was on while you straddle him.

toji turns on the game and takes a sip of beer while you grind on his thick daddy sized thighs. needing more sticky wet contact, you peer off his sweat soaked shirt. toji grins at how eager you are scent yourself on him rubbing your body against his. uncaring how "gross", he was, in fact he was almost sure you preferred him better a lil sweaty.

spoiler alert—you do.

toji can feel how warm and moist your lil cunny is getting through his gym shorts. especially as you burrow your head into the musky fold under his shoulder. swirling patterns of slick sweat over his ribs and biceps as you grop him desperately while you gasp like you've never breathed air before while inside his pit.

toji can feel your hips pick up speed and your thighs clench around his muscular one.

"ya gonna cum already, mama?"

muffled affirmations fumble from your lips, he smelled extra potent today. the pheromones lacing his scent making you lose your own goddamn mind.

"did extra sets today just f'er my nasty lil slut, made sure to get nice and sweaty."

"f-fank yoou dafdy, fuk!" you cry out into his pit.

toji takes another swig of beer before placing it down on the table next to the sofa, his free hand now guiding your hips even faster on him. leaving a slime trail of your depravity lingering on his shorts.

wanting to taste him your tongue flattens to lap at the musty sweat, not caring that his this thick hairs scrape over your tongue. you gasp as the bitter taste of his musk stains your throat and you nearly choke from the loss of air as his heavy bicep presses you deeper into him. toji twitches, ticklish from your nasty lil tongue. the jerk of his body drives his thigh further up into you and smashing your sensitive clit and that's enough from your orgasm to rack threw your body as your muted moans resound from his pit.

you take a moment, dizzy as you heave, sliding your head out and onto his chest.

"ya still want more, my freaky lil' mama?"

you can only weakly nod as your body replenishes itself with the much needed untainted oxygen.

toji lifts you momentarily chuckling at your whines as he pushes his shorts down his hips just enough to bring out his dick and balls. "well you better get to it then mamas." toji smacks your ass. "these dirty balls ain't gonna gargle themselves."

.....lmfao nonny u got the toji demons coming out of me right now. cause wtf is thiskdshfsjkdhsdjhk 😭😭😭 consider this welcome present.

[kidney9-9]

Slut Me Out - Steve Rogers

Hi hope you enjoy this smutty piece of Steve and Reader! Thank you for reading :)

Steve Rogers x Reader [Smut] Warnings: Smut, blow job, finger fucking and masturbation Word Count: 3.2k

-

You giggled quietly to yourself as you connected your phone to the speakers in the car and waited for Steve to get back into the car. He was putting the grocery cart away after you two went shopping. The song you were loading was “Slut Me Out”, by NLE Choppa aka a very dirty song that went viral on TikTok the other day.

You just had to see his reaction to this song. After seeing his reaction to WAP and a few other dirty songs, you had to know what he’d think of this song.

You instantly pressed play once he got into the car, smiling nonchalantly at him as you turned up the volume. Steve grinned back to you, unaware what you were about to do.

“I love this song, just gonna turn it up a little.” You shrugged to him, still smiling as the first lyric played, “Why you being weird to me?”

“Okay, I look forward to hearing it!” He said, still smiling at you as he pulled his seatbelt on and started to back out of the grocery store parking lot. You bit your lip as the next few lyrics played.

“Aye, rip off my shirt if you love me (love me) Spit in my face when you fuck me (fuck me) Play with my gooch, while you suck me (suck me) Eat the dick like you was ugly.”

You silently laughed hard as you stared at Steve’s reaction. At first, he was bopping his head to the music and then he stopped and gripped the wheel tighter, then a confused expression formed on his face. Then it disappeared as he glanced over at you, realizing you were laughing at him.

“Don’t judge me… what’s a gooch?” He spoke up before he cleared his throat and quickly added, “Wait never mind, I don’t want to know, I think.”

“I mean, hold on, wait Where your friend? Bring your buddy (your buddy) I don't think that you enoughie (enoughie) Her favorite thing to say is, "Cuff me.”

The song continued to play in the background as your laughter rose to a volume, “It’s uh, the area between your ass and your dick.” You explained, nodding to him. His expression turned confused again as he started to drive, after he backed out of the parking spot.

“What is it?” You asked, wondering the silent question that’s screaming in his head. He sighed, glancing at you with a weird expression before he let it out.

“How do you play with a gooch?” A nervous laugh rolled out of him before he finished the question. You bit back your laughter as you watched as his hands once again tightened on the steering wheel.

“Pretty sure you just rub it or something.” You tried to describe it with your hands, but you stopped as he sent you a stare. It was that classic Steve glare that made everyone want to laugh, but you held it in for a moment before bursting out.

“Slut me out (out) Slut me out (out) Slut (slut), slut (slut) Slut me out

Rip off my shirt if you love me (sexy) Spit in my face when you fuck me (come sex me) Play with my gooch, while you suck me (don't text me) Eat the dick like you was ugly (don't text me)”

“Baby, please, it’s a joke, don’t look so serious.” You started to laugh, shaking your head at him as he came to a stop light. He let out a sigh of relief, then started laughing with you.

“I thought you really liked this song, and you were playing it to give me a sign or something.” His cheeks were painted red as he thought back to the WAP song and how you introduced it to him.

“Oh, well… I mean, this could be a sign to do something too?” You answered, shrugging softly as you settled a hand over his thigh, the light turning green just then. He was still stopped, eyebrows furrowed down at you when he realized you weren’t joking.

He was silent as he started to really listen to the lyrics. The last time you did this, you two had incredible sex in a kitchen then continued to have sex in the bedroom for another hour or so. He shivered as he remembered the entire day, savoring that memory deeply.

His attention went straight to your hand – when he should be driving – as it continued to creep upwards and dance slowly around his dick. He could feel every muscle and every part of his skin as you glided your hand around the area, and he cursed his pants for being in the way silently.

He also cursed you silently because this was most definitely not the best place to be doing this (but he loved it).

“So, what exactly do you want us to try now?” His question was brimming with excitement and curiosity, wondering what sort of things you wanted to do. He had to admit that he felt a bit old at this moment, but he didn’t really care or give much thought to it since he was a bit distracted.

“Big dick energy, I give it (I give it) Don't believe me, then come feel it (come feel it) Gon' put this here in your kidney, please (please) And hush it like some kidney beans Suck my balls, come chickpea me Why you being weird to me? (Weird to me)

Put your ass in my face 'til I get pink eye Fuck you anywhere, I'm that type guy (that type guy) At the church, on the plane, at the basketball game I don't care, I'ma bust my nut 'til I die ('til I die) What position do I like? All of 'em, baby (Baby) Put it on camera, masturbate to it later (to it later) Ever sucked a vegan dick? Baby, come taste me.”

“Jesus.” He breathed out, absolutely shocked at the lyrics. It was a bit worse than that WAP song. He did not know what to expect the next lyrics to be with this song, compared to WAP. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the comparison, but the chuckle was cut off by a choked surprised noise as you gripped him tightly over his pants.

You paused in your actions, “Is this cool, Steve?” Your use of his name caused him to shudder again. He loved it when you said his name – especially when you moaned it.

“Well, it depends sweetheart, don’t expect there to be no punishment when we get home. You know it’s not good to play in public like this.” He tried his best to sound dominant, knowing you’d enjoy it. You grinned at him, your lips spreading wide with an interested expression.

“Mm, I’m pretty sure I’d enjoy any punishment you give me.” You confessed, giggling when you watched Steve turn to look at you with what seemed like a disapproving stare. Your grip on his clothed dick lightened as you started to move your way to the zipper, undoing it and pressing your fingers up to his underwear opening, guiding two fingers to circle down onto his bare skin.

“I want to do so many things to you. Wanna suck your cock while we’re heading home. Can I pretty please do that?” You asked as politely and innocently as you could and watched as he coughed loudly as you started to rub two fingers up and down on his dick.

“I can barely think when you do that…” He trailed off, head hitting the back of the seat.

“And I want your fingers fucking my pussy, after I suck them wet.” You continued, ignoring his words.

“Baby, please… if you do that I can get into an accident.” He begged slightly, but his hips betrayed him as he started to flex up into your touch. You let your grin widen, happy to see it. His cock was so hard, so ready for you to fuck when you got home.

“Promise that my nut taste like sugar gravy Don't cum quick, I control my bladder (control my bladder) Dick real big, come climb my ladder (my ladder) Fat coochies, little coochies, all coochies matter (they matter)

Ass real fat, I can make it get fatter (fatter) Wanna see a magic trick? Bend over backwards (Over backwards) Meat to meat, wall to wall Coochie to my balls, dawg”

“Insurance will cover it!” You cheered, making him huff out a laugh, shaking his head at your comments. You were being arrogant and ignorant about the fact that he could get into an accident – which he knew could be bad if you two got hurt, or more importantly, you got hurt and he had to watch.

“Not taking that chance, baby.” He sighed, hesitant to say.

“Meanie.” You pouted, a face that made him blush at times. “Fine, then I’ll just give you a hand job.”

He sputtered out something between a laugh and a confusing huff of air. “Is that any different?” His question met with your eyes rolling.

“You and I both know it is.” You replied and he found himself nodding slightly, but adding, “Not when we’re in the car.” He was serious about it, and you sighed but you understood where he was coming from. You didn’t want to get in a car accident, but you trusted his driving skills were decent enough to avoid hitting a car…. But you could play petty.

“Fine, I’ll just fuck myself with my fingers.” You rolled your eyes at him, getting ready to do what you said. Steve sputtered at you, gazing at you incredulously.

“No, you’re not. If you want to be a good girl, you’re not going to do that. You’re going to wait until we get home.” Steve demanded, eyebrows raising at you.

“Ayy, rip off my shirt if you love me (love me) Spit in my face when you fuck me (fuck me) Play with my gooch, while you suck me (suck me) Eat the dick like you was ugly

I mean, hold on, wait Where your friend? Bring your buddy (your buddy) I don't think that you enoughie (enoughie) Her favorite thing to say is, "Cuff me.”

You pouted back at him, “Well… what if I want to be a bad girl right now? Have you cuff me, like the song says?”

“If you do it, you’re not going to be happy in the end, I’m warning you.” He laughed without humor, still watching you.

“Mm, whatever, I’d rather be happy right now with myself then.” Just as soon as you said that Steve gripped the stirring wheel harder as you pulled your pants down by yourself. You gave zero fucks about being in a car, and you had used hand sanitizer already, so you knew you were safe and clean to go ahead and do it.

“I warned you.” Steve let out a disappointed sigh, but he kept looking over you as he drove.

You slid off your panties and grinned to yourself then looked at Steve and winked. Setting a hand over your pussy, you slowly started to rub your clit, making yourself more wet. You let out a moan, mostly to tempt him but also because of how good you were starting to feel.

“Sweetheart…”

You continued your actions despite his words. As you continued to rub at your clit, you started to rub faster and harder while another finger dipped into your pussy, fucking yourself. Your hips started to lift up with each press from your finger, and you added a second finger into your pussy, stretching it out.

“Y/n, on the count of three, you better put your fingers away.” Steve warned, eyes watching you like a hawk. You shook your head at him.

“One, two, three.” He counted, and you continued, grinning even more.

“Screw you Steve, all work, no play.” You sighed out, groaning as you started to reach your orgasm.

“Fuck…” You whispered, rubbing circles into your clit harder and faster, as another finger pushed into your pussy, making it three now.

“That’s it.” Steve said, pulling over the car suddenly, stopping on the dirt. You looked up and around to see you two weren’t exactly home, but in a more secluded place than earlier.

“What are you doing?” You asked, confused at his actions.

“I’m punishing you. Couldn’t wait.” He replied, shrugging at your gaping face. He parked the car and got out, then opened the back door, grabbing a bag of his stuff he’d use for missions. You watched on with a confused face as he put the bag in his seat and opened it up, searching through it.

“What?” You let out.

He grinned as he pulled out the cuffs he uses for missions. You blinked at it and were reminded of what you said earlier. He put the bag away and then got back into the car, with his cuffs in his hands.

“Hands up.” He demanded, and you slowly took your hand off your pussy and put it up next to your other hand. He hooked the cuffs around the holder on top of the ceiling of the car, above the window, and cuffed one hand on one side, and the other hand on the other side, trapping you. You tried to move your hands around, but you couldn’t, especially as Steve looked underneath your seat and set your seat all the way back, laying it flat.

“You wanted me to slut you out, right? That’s what you want, huh?” He questioned.

“Slut me out (out) Slut me out (out) Slut (slut), slut (slut) Slut me out”

You hesitantly replied with, “Uhm, yeah…”. Steve grinned back at you, “Then here it is.”

You were nervous, Steve was never like this. He always warned you about how you were acting but he never really punished you. Or if he did, the punishments always ended in a good way.

“Come on, Steve… this is a little crazy for you.” You laughed nervously.

“Is it? Or did you just push me to the edge?” He questioned back. He raised his eyebrows at you as if to silently answer his own question.

He put his car seat all the way back too, then got closer to you and sighed. “You really push my buttons all the time. And now with this song, you’re trying to tell me you want to change up our sex lives again, like before.”

“But this time, you don’t get a say, got it? All you do say is a color – red, yellow, or green to tell me to continue or to stop.” He continued.

“Steve, what?” You let out a surprised laugh, but you were definitely welcoming what he was doing.

“Is this, okay?” He asked, “Before I go off the edge, is this, okay?”

“Yes, of course it’s okay.” You responded.

He gave you a smile and then continued his actions. He got closer to you and kissed your lips gently before pulling away and sighing again. He licked his lips as he glanced down to your exposed pussy. He moved his hands down to your thighs and started to massage them.

You shifted your hips, trying to get closer to his hands, but he didn’t let you as he sent you a glare. You gulped in your spot, stopping your movements.

He continued to massage your thighs, slowly getting closer to your pussy but not touching it directly. Then he stopped and pulled out his dick, showing how hard he was. Your eyes widened in surprise, as you didn’t think he even cared earlier, let alone get hard.

He started to jerk himself off for a few moments before he glanced over at you with a smirk, “Suck it.” He demanded, and you nodded quickly but as you tried to move forward, you couldn’t move all the way since your hands were trapped.

He chuckled as you struggled and got up, scooting closer to you in the car with him on his knees, bending slightly for you to suck his dick.

You finally could lean forward enough to suck his hard on. You wrapped your lips around his tip, playing with it with your tongue as you scooted closer and pushed your mouth all the way down his cock, throat tightening as you gagged, feeling his skin hit your lips.

“Finally acting like a good girl, huh? Color?” He asked, pulling your head away from his cock.

“Green, fucking green.” You repeated with a huff, before he smiled down at you and grabbed the back of your head and shoved himself down your throat again, fucking you.

“Ahm,” You grunted against his cock, making him groan down at you.

You licked as much as you could, but he started to face fuck you, dragging you by your hair, up and down his cock.

“Fuck, I’m gonna cum.” He moaned, holding you in place as his cock was at the bottom of your throat. You struggled again, and hummed against him, causing him to groan again, “I’m coming, fuck Y/n…”

He held you in place still, causing you to swallow up all of his cum. You gulped it all up, unable to taste it because it was down your throat.

He pulled away after he finished coming, and he groaned as he pulled himself out of you.

“Good fucking girl. I’m so lucky you’re acting good now, no more bad girl huh?” He said, chuckling as you rolled your eyes at him.

“Let me touch myself.”  You insisted, grunting as you tried to shift your legs together, trying to get some friction.

“No. Don’t ask again. You’ll take what I give you. If I give you my cock, you take it. Got it?” He responded seriously, making you gulp again. “Color?”

“Green…” You trailed off, wondering what he was going to do next.

“Good.” He spoke. “Open your mouth.”

You complied after a second, watching as he dragged his fingers up and into your mouth. You automatically closed your mouth around them, sucking them and licking them.

He grinned at you and took his fingers out of his mouth. He moved them back down to your thighs and went down to your pussy, teasing you slightly by lightly moving his fingers across your pussy.

He dipped a finger down into your pussy, watching you gasp at him. “Steve…more.” You whined, grinding down onto his hand. He pulled away instantly and shook his head.

“No. Don’t move.” He spoke up.

“Ah, fuck please, Steve!” You groaned, pushing your head back.

He only continued when you stopped moving and you did your best not to move when he added another finger and you whimpered slightly, shutting your eyes. You were so close to your orgasm just from his fingers, you just very slightly moved and then paused – hoping he didn’t catch that.

“Mm, good.” He commented. “But not good enough.” He spoke as he pulled away his fingers.

“Steve. Please!” You begged, squeezing your thighs together to try to bring you to your finish, but you couldn’t.

“Nope, that’s what you get.” He laughed, then started the car and pulled back up onto the road. You stared at him, gaping as he continued to drive like nothing just happened.

“Steve!” You yelped, “I’m still handcuffed!”

“Oh well, that’s what sluts get.”

[misstycloud]

Not-so-serious ask but more offff how would stalker! Yan react to seeing reader singing very vulgar/sexual songs? They do the dance moves and say every.single.word. Absolutely no shame in them.

(Songs like: “slut me out”- NLE choppa) thank you for your time!💖

Oh, god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god!

The stalker covered their mouth with their hand to stop them from gasping out loud. They couldn’t have you hear them.

If you did, you’d notice them sitting in that tree you never liked right outside your window. It destroyed the view, you thought. Not that there was much to see anyway.

They had planned out their evening perfectly, go to your house, climb the tree as they’ve done so many times and snap a couple photos. Nothing more, nothing less.

Just a normal night for them, really. What they hadn’t expected was to see you through your living room window, singing a not-so censored song.

Inside your home, you repeated the lyrics of the song perfectly. You knew it like the back of your hand. “Ayy, rip off my shirt if you love me.” while singing, your body seems to have a mind of its own, throwing your arms out and stepping to the beat.

With shaky hands, your stalker lifted the camera up and pressed the button, a click emenating from it. The way you swayed your hips, and the way you told them to rip your shirt off. Oh, they could just die at the spot!

“(Y/n)~” they groaned your name and placed their palm over their heart; feeling how it vigoursly slammed against his ribs.

“Spit in my face when you fuck me.”

“I could never do that to you, my dear!” the stalker cried, “you’re too good for me, but if you want you can spit on me.” they said even though you had no way of hearing them.

“Play with my gooch, while you suck me~”

“Yes, I’d love to!”

“Eat the dick like you was ugly”

“Ah, I’m so terribly ugly compared to you!” a shamefully red blush dusted they’d cheeks because of your vulgar words, though there were not directed at them.

“Why you being so weird to me?”

The watcher froze up in the tree, together with all the green leaves as company. “I-I’m sorry, it’s just that…I like you so, so much…!”

You continued the song, unknowing of the dark shadow looming right outside your window, who had perfect sight of you and every single thing you did. You kept going, but they themselves appeared to be stuck on that line.

“I can’t help it! I like-no- love you! I love you. So, so, so, so much, you have no idea!”

It was the truth, they really couldn’t love anything or anyone as much as you. You were their entire world. Nothing mattered compared to you. You were their sun, the thing that brought colour and light to their otherwise bleak world.

That’s why they acted in a way most would consider…odd.

The things they acted upon wasn’t exactly what the majority of couples did. Normal couples don’t jot down their partner’s whole schedule. Normal couples don’t follow each other around constantly, without any concern for the hour. Normal couples don’t collect every single piece that had touched their partner’s body in any sort of way.

And normal couples definitely don’t print out photos of the other to cover their entire wall.

But it was all in the sake of love! Nothing harmful about that, surely it is all alright. Who could deny a young citizen with their entire life ahead of them a chance of loving something else other than their phone.

The stalker’s heart continued to thump loudly in their chest, making their ears drum at the feeling. They had taken all the pictures they needed for tonight and settled to listen. You had now gotten to the end of the song.

“Slut me out!”

Thump

“Slut me out!”

Thump

“Slut!-“

They leaned forward to get a better view of you since you’d began moving back in your home, making it somewhat harder to see you clearly.

“Slut!-“

They didn’t hear the crack sounding under them.

“Slut!-“

It was too late, disaster was inevitable.

“Me!-“

After another cracking noise, they glanced down to discover the branch breaking under their weight.

“-out!”

‘Crack!’

You jumped at the sound and quickly ran to turn off the music. You approached the windows and looked outside, but there was not a single would out there.

Only a tree with a broken branch.

[jettingtothemoon]

Daughter of the Spirits; chapter 14

➳ pairing: zuko x f!reader ➳ genre: a retelling of the show from season 2 onwards with a heavy focus and expansion on zuko’s story (canon divergent) ➳ warnings: violence, swearing, smut (underaged if your age of consent is above 16), spoilers for anyone who hasn’t seen the show ➳ word count: 2840 ➳ rating: 18+ ➳ summary: In which y/n comes across the fire nation prince during her stay in Ba Sing Se. ➳ tags: @harmlessoffering @lammello @hannahdinse8 @ok-boke @stranger-chan @nekee-lilac02 @inutheangel @kalea-gooch @meiraloves2dmen @cozy-fantasy-corner @urmomlikeslinotoo @brain-has-left @iluvme547 @nadlx33333 @savannah0111 @browneyedgirl22 @swoon-for-joon @vyliie (i’m sorry if i’m forgetting anyone, lmk if i am or if you want to be added)

Chapters: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,

Inner Conflict

The very next day Zuko set out to teach Aang. He asked you to take part, nervous to teach the Avatar on his own, but you reminded him that this was something he and Aang needed to do alone. At least, until they had some time to bond. You weren’t sure if or when that would happen but you wanted more than anything for the pair to truly reconcile and put old grudges behind them.

So while he taught the Avatar, you decided to spend your time getting to know the others in the group better. You wandered through the camp and found Toph sitting on a rock, casually bending small rocks into intricate shapes to pass the time. You admired her skill and approached her with a friendly smile.

"Hey, Toph. Mind if I join you?" you asked.

The young girl shrugged. "Sure, if you can keep up."

You sat down next to her and tried to mimic her movements, but your rocks crumbled to dust. Toph laughed, and you joined in, enjoying the moment of camaraderie.

“It’s your Waterbender energy, you need to stop following the flow and stiffen up. Throwing boulders and making walls is one thing but something smaller,” she rock in front of her began to take shape, morphing into a small figurine of the Avatar’s flying bison, “requires more thought and precision.”

For someone so young, she was insanely skilled. A more than worthy companion of the avatar. You could learn a lot from her, just as you knew you could learn a lot from everyone, if they just gave you and Zuko a chance.

You both chatted for a while, talking about your journeys and experiences. You spoke of your home back in Omashu and of your parents, whom you missed so dearly, and she told you a little of her upbringing and how she left her parents behind to join the avatar on his journey. Toph was tough but honest, and you found her perspective refreshing.

After some time, you noticed Sokka nearby, practising with his boomerang. Toph nudged you, urging you to go and speak to the boy, and you realised she was helping you. You needed to prove that you were on their side, that you were more than Zuko’s girlfriend. That you wanted to be a part of this team. "Looks like Sokka could use some company. Go on, give him a hand."

You walked over to Sokka, who was deeply focused on his drills. "Hey, Sokka, need a sparring partner?"

Sokka paused and looked at you, a bit surprised but then grinned. "Why not? Just don't go easy on me."

The two of you moved to a more open space and readied your stances, preparing for hand-to-hand combat. Sokka grinned as he twirled his boomerang before tossing it aside. "Alright y/n, let's see what you've got."

You both started slowly, testing each other's reflexes. Sokka was the first to throw a punch, which you blocked with ease and responded with a blow of your own that he quickly dodged. The match was intense as you each gave as good as you got but trying to fight without your bending felt almost foreign now, even after so many years of hiding what you could really do. Sokka, despite his appearance and light-hearted demeanour, was a skilled fighter. His strategic mind shined through in his every move, always a step ahead as he predicted your actions and countered them with precision.

"You've got to be faster," Sokka teased, ducking under your strike and tapping your shoulder lightly as he rolled away. "Imagine you're facing a Fire Nation soldier, not a friend."

You grinned back, trying to keep up with his quick movements. "I think I can handle a few soldiers, Sokka."

The fight escalated, your strikes becoming more powerful and focused. You threw a series of punches, each aimed with intent, but Sokka blocked them with surprising ease. Before you knew what was happening, he swept your legs out from under you, and you hit the ground with a thud. Your chest rose and fell in haste as you regained your breath and soon, Sokka was there to offer you a hand in getting back up.

"You're relying too much on your bending," he said, helping you to your feet. "You need to learn how to fight without it. Our enemies have a chi-blocker, and if you can't bend, you'll be vulnerable."

You dusted yourself off, nodding thoughtfully. "I know Ty Lee. We were friends before we left. I hope we don't find ourselves against each other on the battlefield."

Sokka's expression softened for a moment. "I hope so too. But just in case, you need to be prepared. Chi-blockers are no joke."

You sighed, the weight of the situation settling over you. "You're right. I can't rely solely on my bending. I'll train harder."

Sokka clapped you on the shoulder. "That's the spirit. And don't worry, we've got each other's backs out there."

You chatted together as you headed back to the camp, laughing and joking as you walked along. You felt closer now, which was a relief. But opening up to you was one thing, putting their faith in Zuko was another entirely.

Just as you made your way back into camp, Katara came wandering over with a look in her eye that told you she had something she wanted to say. "Can I talk to you?" she asked, her tone leaving little room for refusal.

You nodded, sensing that this conversation had been a long time coming. You and Katara walked a little away from the others, finding a quiet spot near the river, and you couldn’t quell your nerves.

"I need to understand something," Katara began, her voice tense. "Why are you still with Zuko? After everything he's done, how can you still stand by his side?"

You took a deep breath, choosing your words carefully. "I know Zuko has made mistakes, Katara. But I've seen the light inside him. He's trying to change, really. I've seen him struggle with this for so long, always questioning his choices, wondering if he’s doing the right thing. He’s trying to be better, to be good. That's why he’s here, to finally make the right choice."

Katara's eyes flashed with anger. "But he's hurt so many people! He betrayed us, tried to capture Aang so many times. How can you trust him after all that?"

"I understand your anger, Katara," you replied softly. "I really do. But people can change. I know you've seen it too. Zuko's not the same person he was. He finally wants to do some good and sees the damage the Fire Nation has done. Do you know how hard it was for him to leave everything he’s ever known behind? To turn his back on his own nation? His friends? His family? He needs our support, Katara, not our hatred. Everyone deserves a second chance."

Katara crossed her arms, her expression softening slightly but still guarded. "It's not as simple as that. Even if I wanted to believe in him, it's hard to forget everything he's done."

"Please, just give him a chance to prove himself," you urged. "I believe in him, and I think, deep down, you do too. So please, help me help him become the person he wants to be."

Katara looked down, her resolve wavering. "Maybe you're right, but I can’t so easily trust him. I’ve been betrayed by him enough times, we all have. He can’t keep changing his mind, what’s to say he won’t do so again? I don’t think I’ll ever be able to trust, not after everything he’s done."

"That's fair," you agreed. "I know right now you can only see what he has done and not what he wants to do going forward. If you can’t trust him, then trust in me. He won’t turn his back on any of us again. Please, give him a chance."

Katara nodded slowly. "I'll try. For Aang's sake, and for yours. But he better not mess this up."

You smiled, feeling a sense of relief. "Thank you, Katara. It means a lot."

As you returned to the camp, you felt hopeful. The path to reconciliation was never easy, but with patience and understanding, you believed that Zuko could truly become a valued member of the team.

When the sun began its descent from the sky, Zuko came to pull you aside. Without a word you followed him, allowing him to quietly lead you along with in hand wrapped snugly around your own.

“I can’t teach him,” he said when you finally reached your room, a place away from prying eyes and ears.

You frowned. “You can’t teach Aang? Why?”

Zuko sighed and slumped down onto the bed. “It’s my bending… It’s gone. How am I supposed to teach the avatar, or even fight, when I can only muster a small flame?”

Moving to sit beside him, you took his hand again. For the first time since you’d known him, he felt cold. The tips of his fingers chilled you to touch, even as you encased them with your own warmth.

“Maybe I can help with that…”

He raised an eyebrow as you turned towards him, resting a gentle hand to his cheek as your lips met. He followed your lead as you climbed over him, deepening your kiss, and only pulled away when your hands started to tug at his clothes.

“Look,” he spoke softly, “it’s not that I’m not enjoying this, but how will it help bring my bending back?”

You kissed his cheek softly, letting your lips linger for a moment before trailing them down to his jawline, each kiss deliberate and tender. As your lips brushed against the curve of his neck, you felt his pulse quicken beneath the surface. Smiling against his skin, you murmured, "Maybe a little bit of passion will reignite your fire."

Zuko chuckled and hummed, signalling that there would be no protest from him. His arms moved to hold you, one of his hands slipping into your hair as he kissed you again. It was a silly idea and you both knew it but, if anything, a distraction might be exactly what he needed.

You shifted slightly, pressing your body closer to his as your lips met once more. This kiss was slower, deeper, and filled with all the reassurance and affection you could muster. Zuko's initial hesitancy melted away as he responded, his lips moving in sync with yours. His hand slid down to your waist, pulling you even closer.

You could feel the tension in his body slowly easing away and hoped more than anything to soothe him in this moment of uncertainty. He let out a contented sigh, the warmth between you gradually spreading.

Zuko's fingers threaded through your hair, his touch both gentle and urgent. He tilted his head back slightly, giving you better access as you continued to kiss along his neck and collarbone. Your hands slid beneath his robes, sliding it free of his shoulders and your lips followed the path of untouched skin. The feeling of your lips against him seemed to bring a faint, reassuring warmth back into him.

He rolled over, guiding you beneath him, his lips finding yours again in a series of passionate, lingering kisses. You wrapped your arms around his neck, holding him close to savour the closeness and comfort it brought.

“I love you,” you spoke as you began to slip free of your own clothes, feeling your skin bare against his own. “I love you so much.”

He grinned into your kiss, his hands too working to rid you of the fabric that kept you from him. He seemed more confident than he had before, as though your words made him feel like he could take on the world so long as you were at his side.

“I…” he muttered, “I don’t know what to do.”

You could feel the flush of his cheeks in your hands as you kissed him again, offering a gentle smile against his lips. "It's alright," you whispered, your voice a soothing balm. "We don't need to rush this."

His uncertainty melted away bit by bit as your hands traced the contours of his face, guiding him with patient tenderness. He followed your lead, his touches growing more assured as he explored the warmth and comfort you offered.

His hands roamed over your skin, each caress imbued with a newfound confidence. He marvelled at the way your bodies fit together, the way your breath mingled as your kisses deepened. The room seemed to fade away, leaving just the two of you enveloped in a cocoon of shared heat and intimacy.

“I want to…” his breath was hot against your lips, his forehead gently learning against your own. “I really want to… but this,” your kisses grew languid and his brows furrowed, frustration seeping back in, and before you knew what was happening he was pulling away, “...this isn’t working.”

Although you understood his annoyance with himself, you couldn’t help but feel the ache in your heart as Zuko pulled away, his words hanging heavily in the air. The warmth that had been building between you dissipated, leaving a cold chill in its wake. His kiss he pressed to your cheek felt more like a farewell as he swiftly pulled his robes back on.

Silence settled in the room, broken only by the rustle of fabric and the sound of Zuko pacing restlessly while he thought, now possibly more frustrated than he was before. Slowly, you sat up and wrapped your arms around yourself, all of a sudden feeling exposed and vulnerable. The intimacy shared between you moments ago already felt like a distant memory, replaced by the reality of Zuko's frustration and the conflict within himself.

"I... I'm sorry," you whispered, the words catching in your throat. You wanted to reach out to him, to comfort him and hold him and make all his worries go away, but you knew he needed space.

Zuko ran a hand through his dishevelled hair, his back turned to you. "It's not your fault," he said quietly, his voice soft and fatigued. "I appreciate what you were trying to do. But... I can't... I need my bending, y/n. What use am I to the avatar without it?"

You pulled the blankets around you, disappointed that things hadn’t gone further and acutely aware of the ache that was left behind in the remnants of his touch. “It’ll be alright, I promise.”

With a deep breath, Zuko turned to look at you. His eyes were soft, conveying all the love and gratitude he had for you, but within them lingered a persistent trace of doubt. Not in you, but in himself. "I need time to figure things out," he admitted, his voice vulnerably raw. "Alone."

You nodded again, knowing there was nothing else you could say to comfort him now. You had done your part and it hadn’t helped. It was up to him now to figure this out. You wanted to be strong for him, to show him that you could support him even in moments like this, but you didn’t know what to do. How could you sit by and watch him suffer through something knowing there was nothing you could do to help?

Zuko approached you cautiously, placing a gentle kiss on your forehead. His touch was tender but fleeting, both a silent apology and farewell. "I... I'll be back," he promised softly, though the uncertainty in his eyes mirrored the ache in your heart.

And then he was gone, leaving you alone in the quiet room. Your arms tightened around yourself, trying to hold onto the warmth that had left with him, and you smiled. Not because you were happy but because he was trying. He wanted to do the right thing and maybe his issues with his bending had something to do with that. Whatever it was, you were certain he would figure it out.

The room felt emptier now, colder despite the lingering heat of your shared intimacy. You buried your face in your hands, letting the weight of the moment wash over you. All you could do now was wait and hope that Zuko would find solace in the stars if he could not find it in you.

It was then that you realised just how deeply your love for him had carved into your beating heart because when he was suffering, nothing else mattered. Not the war, not the constant void of being so far from your home and family. None of it mattered because he was in pain. What a dangerous love that is, to love someone so completely that they become all that matters to you in the world. You’d bring down the very sky for him if it would make him smile and you hoped that someday he would do the same for you.

Chapters: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,

[anniflamma]

Yes !! A question for you my friend !

I saw a post of yours showing a rumi quote about shams and you said in the tags that the first translation was released in 2006 , if you don't mind could you give me the name of the book poems or anything I can find about them?

For scientific reasons ofc

You've come to the right place, my friend! But I need to correct something: the book that was released in 2006 is The Forbidden Rumi. That one is a collection of poems that were banned when the Islamic world started to become more like the British Victorians cuz they can't help themselves to ruin everyting. Essentially, all poems that were too 'sensual' or too gay were put on the top corner shelf, hoping no one would notice them. So it wasn't until 2006 that someone actually translated them into English. However, other Rumi poems have had English translations since the 1760s.

I bought a book called Rumi: Unseen Poems, which was released in 2019, translated by Brad Gooch and Maryam Mortaz. In that collection, they specifically picked poems that had never been translated into English before, and of course, many of them are really gay. So it follows the same motivation as The Forbidden Rumi. Also, in that post where I counted every single time Rumi mentioned Shams.... yeah, that wasn’t even all of them… The guy just won’t stop gushing about him!

[momma-pixel]

I Must Speak But Don't Have The Words

[TW: Suicide] When: 1988 Where: Playground, Kindergarten Situation: Little Me strongly and firmly believes that if I antagonize the girls and make them chase me then when I get caught they'll turn me into a girl like them as punishment. Apparently boys will be boys.

When: 1989-1994 Where: My bed, every night / Home Situation #1: I prayed to god every night to let me wake up as a girl. Situation #2: Caught wearing my sister's panties a few times, said it was because I couldn't find my own underwear. Situation #3: Constantly asked to help with yard work, would prefer to help in the house. Told that's women's work, what are you a girl, stop being lazy.

When: 1993-1995 Where: Home / Hospital Situation: General moodiness and angst, aches and pains. Breasts and hips are forming. Why parents? You're fat (I wasn't). Get confused for a girl out in public, parents force me to cut my hair and go on a strict diet. Doctor says I only have one testicle but also wants to run chromosome and hormone tests. Parents balk at cost. Surgery to find a missing testicle. I prayed to god, for the last time, to have the doctors turn me into a girl. They find a testicle slightly smaller than a marble, it's atrophied.

When: 1996 - 2000 Where: High School / Home Situation #1: Fell in with the punk and goth crowd. Had friends. Learned about the world at large thanks to them (and this new thing called the internet!). Discovered I was Bisexual. Learned the term 'transsexual'. Boom, head blown. Female bestie opens her arms, heart, and closet doors to me. Wearing black lipstick, black nail polish, eyeliner. Parents hate me. Wanted my ears pierced, dad said it was for girls and fags. In an argument about something dumb my mom calls me a cocksucker - I quipped that at least I was getting dick, flipped my hair, and walked away...we didn't speak to each other for a month. Situation #2: Attempted suicide twice. Both attempts failed right before they would have succeeded thanks to some spectacular reverse-final destination shit. Parents blamed my friends, my books, and anything else they could. Boyfriend jokes it's because god is scared of me after ignoring my prayers for so long and needs time to come up with an alibi.

When: 2001 - 2005 Where: Therapist's Office Situation #1: Asperger Syndrome (to be changed much later to Autism), Depression, Transsexualism. Do this thing called a Real Life test. Standards too rigid, too high, failed test. Situation #2: Final suicide attempt. Lots of counseling, meds, and restrictions.

When: 2010 - Present Where: New State of Being/Mind/Residence Situation: Grabbed life by the gooch and made it my bitch. Found new therapist, learned about myself more, began fixing myself, started a proper transition.

I never knew the words needed to express my mental anguish and emotional turmoil. They were concepts in my mind colored with prismatic abstract thoughts. My world was a tiny box with the only things allowed in governed by my parents. I wanted so badly to say to someone, anyone, that I was in pain and needed help but didn't know how. Even today I still have trouble putting words to thoughts - as an example, this post alone has already taken an hour to write.

For any of you out there struggling to talk about your changes, your transitions, your mental state of you, take this advice - there are words out there for you! Take your time to craft them as purposely and gently as possible. Some people will kick up at them and try to break them, but they are your words and you made them. They can't be broken, they can't be sullied or tainted. Those words were crafted by hand with love (for yourself) and perseverance (for a better tomorrow) by the best craftsmen in the world: You.

[lung-worm2023]

I made the rest of the kids:}

YOUNG GEMS TETOCU AU MAIN CAST IN GACHA WITH EDITS-

Here’s their names in order of the photos.

Yg!Ash,

Yg!George,

Yg!Harold,

Yg!Melvin,

Yg!Erica,

Yg!Kiara.

[queen-of-writing-bad-things]

Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 1

Episode 19: Man of the House

~Junk-N-Stuff~

Gooch was excited about another piece of junk he'd bought for the store, and as usual, he couldn't wait to show it off to those living downstairs.

"Ray, (y/n). Hurry up!" He called to the slowpokes who were only just coming out of the elevator. The two friends speedily walked to the shop floor, ready to look at whatever he was so eager to show them.

"Yeah, yeah, we're coming." (y/n) yelled back, not being a person of great speed.

"Yeah, what's up, Gooch?" Ray asked, his helper following closely behind him. Gooch was looking happily at some dusty, old chair and the young woman had a gut feeling that it was what he had dragged them all the way upstairs for.

"Look at this antique chair I got." He smiled proudly at his purchase, but Ray and (y/n) weren't so enthralled.

"Okay." Ray studied the chair and didn't understand the hype surrounding the piece of old garbage.

"We're looking at it, now what?" (y/n) looked at Gooch with the same expression.

"It's one of the very first vibrating massage chairs ever made." The Indian man explained to them, but they were still confused. It was a piece of crap, why was he so excited?

"Okay." The larger male said again, not seeing where Gooch was going with this.

"Will you help me fix it up so I can relax my back?" The storekeeper asked the two, mainly (y/n) since she was handy with mechanics and could focus on a job, unlike Ray who was too impatient for a restoration task.

"No!" Predictably, Ray refused, but his helper was much more obliging.

"Yeah, sure. I'll take a look at it tonight." She smiled at Gooch, making the man's cheeks go rosy in jubilation. Their friendly moment was interrupted as Henry walked into Junk-N-Stuff, clearly stressed about something.

"Hey, guys." He said, briskly walking into the store.

"Hello, Henry." Gooch welcomed him warmly, having not expected to see him that day.

"Whoa, I didn't think you were working today," Ray said, slowing the boy down and getting him to explain why he was in a rush.

"Yeah, you look terrible, are you all right?" (y/n) expressed her concern, mentally noting how he had some shallow creases on his forehead and tired eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I know I'm not working today, but I got to go downstairs and check the crime computer. There's been a purse-snatching." He told the adults, piquing their interest.

"Oh, no biggie, just file a police report." The woman brushed off the petty crime, knowing that there had always been and always would be purse-snatching losers in Swellview.

"Who got her purse snatched?" Gooch asked, looking up from his beloved chair.

"My mom," Henry replied, making Ray's eyes light up at the mention of the pretty woman. (y/n) stiffened as she saw him visibly perk up, remembering how the last time they saw her, all he could do was flirt, flirt, flirt with Mrs Hart.

"Your mom? Wait, what happened? Is she okay? Was she hurt? What happened? Is she okay?" Ray asked, suddenly being more than interested in the crime. He put his hands on Henry's shoulders, gradually getting more and more panicked. As if in equilibrium with her best friend, the more stressed he got, the more (y/n)'s heart deflated.

"Why are you interested in his mom?" Gooch asked, feeling sorry for the poor girl in front of him as he watched her eye fill with tears.

"Have you seen his mom?" Ray replied in a high-pitched tone, not seeing how (y/n) started to drift away from him. 

"We got to help her." The man insisted, making (y/n) swallow her jealousy and blink back her tears. 'Get a grip, stupid girl!' She hissed in her mind, feeling like all she ever did was cry over her best friend and his flirting. He wasn't hers to be possessive over, so why was she so distraught?

"Ray, I'm sure Henry's father is taking good care of her." Gooch tried to be the voice of reason as he wanted to shield the young woman next to him from Ray's ignorance.

"Nah, my dad's outta town." Henry, however, didn't see his attempts to shut down the superhero's flirtatious behaviour, and he unintentionally added to the problem.

"He's out of town?!" Ray grabbed the kid's shirt and pulled his body to him in excitement. Mrs Hart would surely be the one to take his mind off his feelings for (y/n) and then his heart would stop aching every time he was near her.

"Yeah, but I can handle things." Henry quickly said, seeing the way Gooch subtly nodded his head at the young woman's dejected figure.

"No, you can't!" Ray let go of his shirt and fumbled for his gum tube in his pocket. (y/n) looked at him with wide eyes, not believing that he was going to go to Henry's house just to see Mrs Hart.

"Why can't he?" The young woman said, her voice uncharacteristically void of emotion. She knew that Henry could handle a petty purse thief, but Ray was just being a dick.

"He's but a boy," Ray replied, not picking up on her cold stare.

"Maybe, but I'm almost fourteen years old, and I've been your sidekick long enough that I can--He's just leaving while I'm talking." Henry gave up trying to lecture Ray, as his boss ran out of the store, intent on seeing his mom. The two males looked at (y/n) sympathetically as she processed the events of the last couple of minutes.

"I--uh, need to g-go to my room, 'cause I think I'm going to pass out." She said in a melancholic, joking tone, but she didn't feel like laughing. Rather, she felt faint at the thought of Ray being alone with Kris Hart and all the things they could get up to whilst Henry's dad was away. The familiar warmth of her bed was the only thing that she craved in that instance as her only other source of comfort was finding a home in someone else's arms.

~Henry's house~

Ray had easily gotten into Henry's house. Piper had answered the door and was only too happy to let the Captain Man into the living room. Henry's beautiful mom was also extremely welcoming to him, feeling flattered that the superhero had come to their house to help her after her attack. If only she knew how he running to her to find salvation for his lonely heart.

"And when this bad man snatched your purse, did he say any words?" Ray placed a gloved hand on the woman's knee, where her own hands were resting. He could feel their shape beneath his fingertips, but he removed them when, to his disappointment, they were too big for his liking, and would never fit in his palm like they were made just for him. 

"Yes, he said 'Give me that purse, woman.'" Mrs Hart imitated the man's voice and Ray wrote down what she said on his PearPad. 

"Captain Man, over here," Piper commented, moving around the superhero and taking pictures for her social media. She would get hundreds, if not thousands of likes from showing off that Captain Man was in her house, talking to her mom.

"Great, now look surprised." She instructed him, Ray being more than happy to sit and bask in the domestic setting. It was something he craved, a family, so he looked for whenever he could, despite his mind only seeing a future with one woman in particular.

"Cool. Now, duck face." The superhero pouted at the camera, much to the chagrin of Piper's mother.

"Piper, will you stop?" The woman told her daughter, wishing to carry on the questions with Captain Man. Henry came in, and to his shock/horror, he saw his boss sitting on his coffee table, getting all friendly with his family.

"Oh, Henry, look who heard about my purse and came to help." Mrs Hart and Ray stood up, as Henry's mouth fell open as he shut the door.

"Wow. Captain Man. In our house...again." His voice became more annoyed when he realised what the older man was up to and boy, he wasn't pleased.

"My son, Henry." His mother introduced them, even though they already knew so much about each other.

"Ah, yes, I remember." Ray pretended to think back to the alien extermination and gestured to Henry as he jogged his memory.

"So, why are you here?" The boy asked, even though he had a pretty good idea why already.

"To protect your mother." The superhero smirked, wrapping an arm around Mrs Hart like he had done so often with (y/n), only this time, it made Henry want to throw up. Firstly, that was his married mother, and secondly, he had way too much loyalty to the depressed young woman back in the Man Cave to like any girl Ray fancied.

"And me," Piper added, even though Ray couldn't care less about her. 

"Yeah, sure." Ray brushed her off.

"Protect her from what?" Henry asked in an annoyed voice.

"Well, whoever snatched her purse also has everything that was inside that purse," Ray explained his thinking.

"I told him about the yoghurt coupon." Mrs Hart butted in, but a yoghurt coupon wouldn't let a thief know where she lived, so the information was pretty much useless.

"Right, and the criminal also has your mom's drivers license and that means he has this address." Captain Man reasoned, his years of experience allowing him to come up with a semi-competent lie.

"And my keys." The woman added.

"So?" Henry didn't see the correlation.

"Captain Man says he might come here to the house and break in." Mrs Hart told him. Of course, Ray would say that he wanted to flirt while he still had the chance.

"That's very true. Can I make you some hot cocoa?" He crooned at the attractive mother, switching into his romantic mode. Henry felt like throwing up.

"Look, we appreciate your help, but if the guy who took her purse does come here, I can handle him." The teen pulled his boss away from his mom, but Ray was too stubborn to give up that easily.

"Really? What if he does this?" Ray grabbed onto a protesting Henry and forced him onto the floor, pinning him down so he couldn't move. To make sure he got the upper hand, the man sat on his sidekick's head, making Piper and Mrs Hart giggle.

"What are you doing?" Henry groaned.

"I'm pretending to be the bad guy who has just broken into this house and is now sitting on your head," Ray smirked with a celebratory voice.

"Ha! Come on, Henry, show us how you'd protect us now." Piper couched down beside her brother, laughing at how helpless he was. To mock him even more, she pressed record on her phone and began to film the whole situation.

"Please, get off my head." The kid pleaded with the superhero, starting to feel weirded out.

"No, I will not get off your head. That's what a bad guy might say in this situation." Ray told the two females, ignoring the boy he was sat on. 

"I don't think this would ever really happen," Henry commented, having never encountered a criminal who sat on people.

"Oh yes, it would. As a superhero, I see this kind of thing every day." Ray lied. He'd encountered some weird shit over the years, but nothing like this. He was only interested in getting Henry to back off.

"No one's going to sit on my head!" The teen snapped.

"I'm sitting on your head." The man replied nonchalantly.

"Well, I wish you'd stop," Henry said, and finally Ray relented, getting up off the boy and smirking at him in triumph.

"Ha! Your hair's all smushed." Piper laughed, finding Henry's messy hair amusing so she snapped a quick pic.

"Mrs Hart, when does your husband get back from Baltimore?" Captain Man turned to the pretty housewife, eager to spend a couple of days with her.

"Not 'til Monday." She replied, making Ray think about the 'predicament'.

"Hmmm. All right, I'll do it." He told the family, causing Henry to feel nervous.

"Do what?" He questioned, hoping that Ray wasn't about to say what he thought he was about to say.

"Stay here until your daddy comes home." He stared, making Henry blanch at his words and Mrs Hart and Piper gasp in excitement.

"No way!" The little girl exclaimed.

"Wow, thanks." Her mom added too, not seeing how flustered her son was.

"Can Kid Danger come to stay with us, too?" Piper asked with a hopeful voice.

"NO! I mean, I mean, no," Henry yelled quickly, the thought of being Kid Danger around his family sounded way too stressful and freaky for him.

"No, no, no." Ray agreed too, not wanting Henry to get in his way more than he already was.

"Why not?" Piper said in a sad voice.

"Because... Kid Danger is starring in a musical." Ray came up with the lie on the spot, which made Henry roll his eyes.

"Really?"

"A play?" The two females asked in surprised voices.

"A musical play." Ray clarified.

"Are you sure? 'Cause I've never heard about Kid Danger being in musicals." Henry looked at Ray with an emotionless face. Of all the things he could've picked, why musicals.

"Oh yeah, he's playing Annie. Oh, how Kid Danger loves to sing songs and dance about." The superhero replied, hinting that his aim was to embarrass Henry.

"Aw, that's adorable." Mrs Hart cooed at the thought of Kid Danger as a theatre kid.

"Yeah." Ray winked at Henry, who was mortified at the situation he found himself in. 

~The next day~

Intent on settling into the family, Captain Man had taken it upon himself to do some shopping for the home he had wormed his way into and was currently unloading the various items onto the table.

"Ah, Henry. I was worried you were gonna sleep the whole day away." Ray smirked at the boy coming down the stairs, who still wasn't happy about his boss inviting himself into his house.

"I just like to sleep late on Saturdays. What's all this junk?" Henry gazed over the crap on the kitchen table.

"I went to the Home Shack and got some stuff." He told his sidekick.

"Why?" The boy asked, confused as to why his boss would buy stuff for a house that wasn't his.

"Because your dad's out of town and so I figured I'd take care of some things around the house. Look! New toilet seats for the whole family." Ray showed him a peach toilet seat, but Henry wasn't impressed. He wanted the man to go back to the Man Cave, back to (y/n), where he really belonged.

"Hey, Henry. Pretty soon you can sit on me." The superhero opened and closed the item in his hands to make it look like it was talking.

"You know, you're a grown man." Henry scolded him.

"Yeah, well..." Ray put down the toilet seat, disappointed that Henry didn't share his sense of humour. '(y/n) would have laughed at that.' He thought to himself bitterly. 

"Anyway, I thought you were just here to protect us in case the purse thief shows up and tries to sit on my head." The boy reminded him.

"Henry, isn't there something else that we should be talking about?" Ray wanted to move on.

"Like?" Henry couldn't think of why he couldn't of anything else worth talking about.

"Like this report card that came in the mail today?" He held up Henry's grades, even though he had no right to bring it up with the boy.

"Ah, geez." Henry sighed, his grades weren't the best right now.

"I notice you got a C-plus in social studies," Ray said in a fatherly manner.

"You know, you're not being very cool right now." The boy said in a sulky voice. Normally, his boss was fun and youthful, but right now, he was being a grownup, and it sucked.

"You know what is very cool? Getting good grades." Ray told him. One day, he'd be a great father, but he wasn't Henry's dad, so he was really getting on the boy's nerves.

"Yeah, great. Thanks for the talk, it really turned me around. Bye." Henry tried to walk away, but Ray stopped him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, where you going?" The superhero stood up and discarded the report card.

"To see a movie with Jasper and Charlotte." The kid didn't see the big deal.

"What movie? It better be rated G," Ray warned him.

"Dude." Henry looked at him in surprise.

"I mean it. No bad words, no mild violence, and especially no brief nudity." The superhero listed everything he thought was inappropriate, but Henry was a mature teen, he could handle a more adult film.

"Oh my god." The boy looked at him like he was insane. Suddenly, the door burst open, revealing Jasper, who had heard about the famous superhero staying at Henry's house. Charlotte trudged in behind him, annoyed that she had to be the one to keep an eye on the curly-haired kid.

"Don't bother him." She said to Jasper firmly, knowing that Ray found the boy irritating.

"Captain Man!" Jasper couldn't help but cry out at the sight of his idol.

"Ugh." Charlotte, Ray and Henry groaned. They really didn't want to deal with him right now.

"I can't believe you're really here!" Jasper bounded over to Captain Man with a huge grin on his face.

"Why'd you tell Jasper he's at my house?" Henry hissed at Charlotte.

"I didn't. Piper's been posting pics of him all over the web!" The girl protested her innocence. It wasn't her fault that his sister posted anything and everything online.

"Hey, maybe after you're done protecting Henry's mom, you can come over to my house," Jasper suggested, but the older man didn't like the sound of that. He remembered what had happened the last time he had to go to the boy's house.

"Uh...sure. Just text me your address." Ray said in a hesitant voice, scratching his ear as he thought of a way to make sure he never had to hang out with Jasper.

"Okay. What's your phone number?" The curly-haired boy asked, pulling his PearPhone from his pocket.

"Oh, it's, uh...594 triangle slash blue." He made up an impossible number on the spot.

"Got it. Wait." Jasper stopped typing when he realised he couldn't input the number into his phone, but Ray was quickly distracted when Mrs Hart came down the stairs.

"Hey, you guys, what are we doing for lunch?" The pretty woman smiled at the kids and superhero.

"I got plans," Henry told his mom, but it seemed that Ray had other ideas.

"I thought maybe we could go out for lunch." The man suggested to Mrs Hart, hoping he could get some time to flirt with her.

"Ooh, that sounds fun." She replied, thinking that the suggestion was innocent and friendly.

"Doesn't it?" Ray smiled flirtatiously.

"Uh, we're going to be late for the movie." Charlotte interrupted him, feeling creeped out at how touchy he was getting with her friend's mother.

"Yeah, let's go." Henry tried to lead them out of the house, but like last time, Ray stopped him.

"Ho, ho, ho, hold on there, plaid shirt." 

"What?" The sidekick asked, wondering what was wrong now?

"Don't you have a social studies test on Monday?" Ray reminded him.

"No." Henry lied, wanting to get out of the house before the movie ended.

"Yeah, we do." Jasper corrected him, not seeing how his best friend just wanted to leave.

"Jasper." Henry seethed. Now he'd never get out.

"I think your mother and I feel it would be best if you stayed home and studied," Ray told him, standing next to Mrs Hart like he was her husband, much to Henry's annoyance and disgust.

"What? Mom!" The kid looked to his mother for help, but she agreed with Captain Man.

"I don't think we should argue with a superhero." She told her son firmly.

"Come on, I don't want to study on a Saturday," Henry whined, thinking that what they were doing to him was really unfair.

"Am I going to have to sit on someone's head again?" Ray threatened him, but Henry wasn't about to be bullied into submission by a man that shouldn't have even been in his home.

"Hey. You're not the boss of me, okay?" He snapped at the large man.

"Well..."

"Well..." Ray and Charlotte thought about his statement since technically, it was true.

"Whatever. You're not my dad and you're not allowed to sit on my head. So why don't you just go home to your girlfriend and leave me alone?" Henry stood up for himself in a harsh tone, but his words enraged Ray. The mention of the pretty girl back home made Ray and his heart remember why he had left in the first place.

Grabbing Henry's wrist, he forced the boy onto the floor again and took his old position on his head. That would teach him not to pull on his heartstrings. Jasper, Charlotte and Mrs Hart watched the scene with puzzled faces as Henry struggled to get free.

"Okay, I'll stay home and study!" He groaned. Anything was better than having a man's butt on his face.

"You promise?" Ray looked down at the squirming boy.

"Yes. Now, please get your butt out of my ear." Henry conceded. This was going to be a long weekend.

~The next morning~

Ray was happily flipping pancakes in the kitchen as Mrs Hart sipped her orange juice. The setting was blissfully domestic; fresh fruit on the table, the smell of breakfast wafting through the air, a warm dressing gown around his shoulders. 

This was Ray's perfect family Sunday. Well, it would be if he could look up and see (y/n) waiting for his homemade pancakes. Maybe a little girl on her knee and a boy helping him cook. Perhaps even a golden retriever sniffing around his feet, looking for scraps. That was his dream, but it seemed so out of reach, he deemed it easier to find his heart a substitute, a placebo, even if it was for just a little while.

"Mmm. This orange juice is so good." Mrs Hart said to him, breaking him out of his reverie.

"Of course it is. I squeezed it myself." Ray told her, going the extra mile for his 'family'. Mrs Hart smiled at his kindness.

"Hey, Piper, hurry up! Captain Man is making us breakfast!" The woman called for her daughter. Ray winced inwardly at his official title. It was just a stark reminder that this wasn't his family, this wasn't his dream, he wasn't Ray at that moment, he was just good old Captain Man helping out.

"I'll be down in a few minutes!" Piper yelled from her bedroom.

"So... who's ready for some mancakes?" Ray presented his version of pancakes to Mrs Hart. They were just normal pancakes, but he had printed his Captain Man symbol on them, thus making them "mancakes". 

"Wow, they have the Captain Man logo." Mrs Hart marvelled at them, but even her compliments couldn't fill the hole in his chest. These weren't meant for her, he had come up with them for his imagined wife and children.

"Yeah, that's what puts the man in the mancakes." He told her, trying to get over his pining. He giggled with the woman at his ingenuity as Henry came down the stairs and frowned at his mom and boss cuddling up together in the kitchen.

"Hey, what's going on down here?" He asked, having heard all the commotion from up in his room.

"Oh, Henry, look. Captain Man made breakfast for the whole family." Mrs Hart gestured to the spread on the table, set with four places. 

"Oh." Henry looked at his smirking boss and noticed something peculiar about what he was wearing.

"Uh, isn't that dad's robe?" He asked Ray, recognising the checkered fabric.

"Yeah, found it in the dryer." The man told him, liking how the soft garment made him feel at home.

"It looks like it fits you perfectly." Mrs Hart didn't seem to think that the superhero wearing her husband's robe was weird.

"Well, it's a little small in the biceps, but what can you do?" Ray smirked at her, although he wasn't sure if she meant the robe or the fact that he was slotting into domestic life perfectly.

"Uh, you could wear your own robe and sleep at your own place with your girlfriend who you love very much." Henry knew he was pushing it, but he desperately wanted Ray to get the hint that he was lying to himself and digging the hole even deeper.

"Henry, don't be rude. Captain Man is being nice enough to stay here and protect us in case that purse snatcher comes to the house. And he's gracious enough to leave his girlfriend at home, so we should be grateful." Mrs Hart scolded her son as she cut through her mancakes. 

Ray stiffened at the continuous use of the word 'girlfriend' for (y/n). Each time it was like a stab to his heart that she wasn't at home waiting for him, he was just going home to an empty bed. If only he knew how she was crying for the same reason, his actual robe clasped to her chest.

"Oh yeah, the purse snatcher. So, what have you been doing to catch him?" Henry asked Captain Man, knowing how (y/n) was in the Man Cave sobbing over how Ray was playing happy families with someone else. He'd had girlfriends before, but he'd never dangled a relationship like that under her nose so cruelly. And with Henry's mother of all people.

"I have a lot of good ideas." Ray smiled at Mrs Hart, not wanting her to notice how Henry was rocking the boat with his questions.

"Like what?"Henry pressed. He wasn't going to let the man get away that easily.

"What?" Ray said to waste time as he aggressively flipped the mancakes.

"What ideas do you have to catch the purse snatcher?" Henry enunciated each syllable, making sure that Ray understood what he was saying.

"Well, for starters, you know I have a sidekick, Kid Danger?" Ray gave Henry the side-eye.

"Oh, yeah, I've heard of him." Henry nodded with ignorance.

"Well, since I'm Kid Danger's boss, maybe I'll make him put on a pretty dress and carry a purse through the most dangerous part of town late at night. And maybe the snatcher will take the bait  and attack him." Ray suggested, making Henry go pale.

"I...I don't think that's a very good idea." The kid stuttered.

"Okay, so you want to keep talking about this or do you want to sit down and enjoy some mancakes?" Ray smiled at him with a false nicety.

"Do you want Kid Danger to tell his other boss that Captain Man is in love with her and is too chicken to ask her out?" Henry whispered back in the same fake-happy voice.

"Mancakes, dress or getting fired, those are your options," Ray told him in a low voice, not letting Henry see how nervous his proposition made him.

"Mancakes." Henry quickly stood down and walked obediently to the table. He didn't like the sound of being bait or losing his job.

"Hey, I heard on the radio they're doing family portraits at the mall today for half off." Mrs Hart told the two males, much to Henry's horror. 

"Oooh, maybe we should go get some family photos," Ray suggested as he brought a plate of mancakes to the table. The idea made Henry feel queasy; what would his dad say if he saw them? What would (y/n) do if she saw them?

"I think that is a mantastic idea." Mrs Hart agreed, not seeing anything wrong with the proposal. She and Ray chuckled at her little pun, but Henry wasn't laughing.

"Piper, put on something cute! We're going to take some family photos!" The woman shouted to her daughter, who was still getting ready.

"Okay!" The little girl yelled back.

"Hey. Dad's in Baltimore." Henry told his mother harshly, not believing that she was agreeing to the activity.

"I know, but Captain Man can fill in for your dad." She smiled at Ray, who pretended like that wasn't what he had been doing all weekend.

"Oh no. No, no, no. Okay." The superhero 'gave in', thinking that he was finally getting a taste of family life. He put his hand on Henry's shoulder, making the boy feel very uncomfortable.

~The Man Cave~

(y/n) had been up all night fixing Gooch's stupid chair. It was a laborious job, but she craved mental stimulation to take her mind off of Ray as he galavanted around Henry's house. She hadn't bothered to change out of her pyjamas, despite Charlotte's pleading. The girl hated seeing her older friend in such a state, but at least she had stopped crying and had put down Ray's robe. 

(y/n) poured litres of diesel into the engine on the back of the chair, as the man and girl watched. She looked terrible, a shadow of herself from a few days ago, but she didn't care. How could she function when the man of her dreams was finding a family with another woman?

"Geez, how much gasoline do we have to pour into this thing?" Charlotte asked, trying to maintain her slightly happier state.

"I think that's enough." She said, stepping back with her jerry can.

"Now, let's test it." Gooch shuffled towards his chair, excitement coursing through his veins. (y/n) stood by Charlotte's side, hoping that she'd done everything right. She was no Schwoz, but she was still a decent engineer in her own right, especially when she could tinker away on a simple machine.

"Sit in the chair." Gooch motioned for Charlotte to sit down, but neither she or (y/n) trusted the rickety old thing.

"How about you sit in the chair?" The girl retorted, not wanting to break her back due to the old contraption.

"It's totally safe." He reassured her.

"Glad you think so, I think it's a piece of shit." The young woman complained to the Indian man. 

"I hope so." Charlotte did as she was told and sat down in the vibrating chair. 

"Ready?" Gooch gave her a few seconds to settle down before he pulled the rope start. The motor roared to life and the juddering caused the chair to vibrate, but from the look on Charlotte's face, it wasn't comfortable. Thankfully, she found some relief when Henry came down in the elevator.

The doors opened and the boy stumbled out, only he looked ridiculous since he was wearing a bright yellow, plastic rain poncho, red wellington boots and was carrying an umbrella. 

"Hi, everyone." He said in a dull and irritated tone. Obviously, his outfit was down to one of Ray's schemes with his family.

"We're busy," Gooch said, but his outfit was way more interesting than the dumb chair.

"What are you wearing?" Charlotte asked in confusion.

"A poncho. And rubber boots." He snapped, stomping around in the big shoes.

"Why? It was just barely raining." The girl said, but (y/n) already knew the answer.

"Let me guess, he has something to do with it." The young woman mumbled bitterly. It was then Henry took a moment to rake his eyes from her unbrushed hair to her crumpled pyjamas. He could see how dishevelled and brokenhearted she looked, which only irritated him further. This was Ray's fault.

"Yeah, I know that, but 'Captain Dad' still made me wear all this stuff "so I won't catch a cold"." Henry imitated what Ray had said to him. (y/n) swallowed at the thought of Ray being attentive and parental. She had always hoped that he would do that for their children, but her dream died on the spot at the mention of him being with another.

"And he made me carry this." Henry opened the umbrella, his face telling the two girls that he was annoyed.

"That's bad luck." (y/n) gestured to the open umbrella with a limp hand, so Henry closed it before anything worse could happen to him.

"Hey, I might have some good news for you. Come here." Charlotte said to Henry, making him and (y/n) follow her over to the computer. The young woman had no idea what she was talking about since for the last two days she had been either inconsolable or furiously fixing Gooch's chair.

"I was thinking about your mom's purse, so I went online and look what I found for sale." Charlotte pulled up a web page where a yellow handbag was being sold.

"Whoa, that's my mom's purse," Henry exclaimed, recognising the bag immediately.

"That's what I thought. Here, I'll zoom in." The girl showed them the description, which was pretty telling as to how the seller got hold of it.

"Used Kate Spod purse. Recently stolen." Henry read out in a confused voice.

"What idiot would put that in the ad?" (y/n) commented, wondering how dumb this criminal had to be to write that description.

"Right?" Charlotte agreed with her.

"So, what's our plan?" Henry asked the girls, knowing that they were better at strategy than he was.

"Well..." The dark-haired girl was cut off when Gooch tried to fire up his motorised chair again, irritating the three at the computer.

"We call the phone number on that ad, say we wanna buy the purse, and have the guy who's selling it bring it to your house..." Charlotte explained, but (y/n) beat her to it.

"And then Captain 'Comfortable with someone else's family' can nab him." She carried on for the girl, liking the plan she had come up with. 

"Yeah, and then Captain Man can move out of my house." Henry nodded along with them, glad that he had an opportunity to get Ray back to the woman before they both had a meltdown from being apart for too long.

"Uh-huh," Charlotte said as Gooch pulled the rope starter again and this time, the engine stayed running.

"It's started, quick!" The man dashed into the seat and sat back so he could enjoy the vibrating motions. However, his weight caused the motor to backfire and cut out, much to his disappointment.

"Dang it!" Gooch exclaimed and hit the side of the chest with his fist. To his surprise, the violent action caused the exhaust pipe to fall off and clatter to the floor. Gooch bit his fingernails and looked to (y/n) with hopeful eyes. She'd mend it, right?

"I'm not fixing it again." She told the man, walking off to get herself a pint of ice cream. Looks like Gooch would have to repair his chair alone. 

~Henry's house~

Piper was sitting happily on the couch with Captain Man behind her. As per her request, he was braiding her hair with expert fingers, having had plenty of experience playing with (y/n)'s. It was another situation he found himself in where he pictured another life. Piper wasn't Piper, she was a little girl with (y/c/h) locks, and she'd giggle and squirm when he pressed kisses to her cheeks, before running off to show her mother how pretty Daddy had done her hair. If only that could happen.

"You know, one time my dad tried to braid my hair." Piper suddenly said, snapping him out of another daydream.

"Oh yeah? How'd that turn out?" He asked, focusing on doing her hair. 'She'll never be yours. She's too good for you.' He reprimanded himself. 

"Bad!" The little girl said and they both started laughing, as Mrs Hart finished hanging up the 'family portrait'. Everyone in it was smiling, apart from Henry, who had a scowl on his face.

"Okay, guys, how's it look?" She said, drawing the two's attention.

"That looks fantastic." Ray smiled at her, trying to convince himself that it looked right. 

"I love it!" Piper squealed, ecstatic to have a photo of Captain Man and her family on the wall.

"Hi, everyone!" Henry suddenly burst through the door.

"It's us!" Charlotte followed in behind him, ready to end the weird dynamic that was going on in the Hart household.

"Did a guy named Axel show up here yet?" The boy asked his mom, sister and boss. He was hoping that they hadn't missed their chance.

"Axel?" Piper repeated the name. She didn't know that Henry knew anyone by that name.

"No one's shown up here," Ray told them both, making the kids release a sigh of relief.

"Good," Henry said, his muscles relaxing.

"Who's Axel?" Mrs Hart asked, also having never heard of the guy.

"He's the guy who---What the---" Henry's mouth fell open when he saw the monstrosity on the wall. He couldn't believe Ray had the audacity to go that far.

"Really? Over the fireplace? Really?" He snapped to his boss as Charlotte looked at it in horror too. '(y/n) can never hear about this.' She thought to herself.

"Who's Axel?" Piper raised the question again, as Ray just smiled at his actions. He wasn't overly proud, but he had to admit, he suited the domestic life.

"The guy who stole your mom's purse," Charlotte replied, shocking the three of them

"You found him?" Mrs Hart gasped.

"Yeah, we found him trying to sell it online," Henry explained, but Charlotte wasn't completely happy with how he worded it.

"I found it." She corrected him.

"We found it."

"I found it."

"All right." Henry stopped the argument before it could go any further.

"He's on his way here with the purse," Charlotte revealed, as Ray felt his stomach drop at the notion of having to go back to the superhero life.

"Because he thinks we're going to buy it from him." Henry carried on, wanting his family plus Ray to know what was about to happen.

"Ooh, well, what time is he supposed to---" Mrs Hart was cut off as the doorbell rang. He was here.

Everyone screamed as they sprang into action.

"He's here!" Charlotte stated as Mrs Hart panicked.

"Quick, what's the plan?" She asked, not knowing how to deal with a criminal on her doorstep.

"Uh...we all sneak out the back way and go to the zoo," Ray said, wanting to stay in the Hart household for a little while longer. 

"How does that help his mom get her purse back?" Charlotte hissed at him, hating how difficult he was being. The doorbell sounded again, obviously, this dude was getting impatient.

"Just a sec!" Henry yelled, needing a minute to sort out their plan of action.

"Go hide!" He hissed at Ray. If 'Axel' saw Captain Man in the house, the whole plan would go up in flames.

"All right!" The man growled, running hide behind the sofa.

"Okay. Everyone just sit around and act like everything's normal." Henry told them all. They each sat down and assumed a position that was completely unnatural for anyone just lounging about the house. 

"Wait! What if he recognises me?" Mrs Hart piped up, highlighting the important point. It was a possibility, but the criminal sounded pretty dumb so he probably wouldn't recognise her.

"She's right! Quick, you better come hide here, right by me!" Ray jumped up from his hiding spot and gestured for Mrs Hart to hide with him. 

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" He said to the woman as she jogged over to where he was. They crouched down together and Ray smirked at having the woman close to him. The doorbell ran again, so with everything in place, Charlotte went to answer the door at last.

"HI, welcome to this house. Won't you come in?" She said to the shifty-looking man, who had the purse in his hand. 

"Yeah, okay." Axel looked around to see if anyone was following him and then stepped into the living room. 

"So...how much for the purse?" Henry asked the man, walking over to him.

"Oh, well, the ad said--" Using all his strength, Henry swiped the bag out of Axel's hands and tucked it under his arm.

"Ha! Now you don't have it!" He said to the startled man.

"Dude--" Axel looked at the scrawny kid and squared up to him a little.

"Captain Man!" Henry called to the hiding superhero. Ray stood up and revealed himself to the criminal, who promptly knew he had been set up.

"Aw, no way! Captain Man lives here?" He whined, showing his stupidity. Ray liked the sound of that, so he smiled and put his arm around Mrs Hart.

"No, he does not." Henry replied firmly, which made Ray lower his arm.

"Whatever, man. I guess I'm busted." Axel sighed, knowing his game was up.

"Yeah, which means you get your purse back and Captain Man doesn't have to stay here anymore." Henry chucked his mom her purse and stared intently at Ray. He wanted his boss to go home after this.

"Now, now, wait, wait, wait a minute. We can't be sure he's the real criminal." Ray stated, not wanting to go back to his loveless life of fighting crime.

"I am. It was all me, man." Axel replied, not getting why Captain Man hadn't arrested him yet. Henry flopped down next to Piper, knowing that Ray's game was up too.

"Can I see that for a second?" The superhero asked Mrs Hart, who just stared coldly at the criminal who stole her purse.

"Come with me," Ray said to Axel, leading him out of the house and shoving him onto the porch. Henry frowned as he got the feeling that his boss was up to something. Outside, Ray threw the purse back at the criminal, intent on letting him go.   

"Now, I want you to hold on to that purse and don't escape. Because if you escape, I might not be able to find you and take you to jail. No one's going to be watching you." He explained plainly, basically just letting Axel off the hook.

"You're gonna leave him out there with the purse?" Charlotte asked him, gobsmacked at the thought of Ray ruining their plan just so he could dodge his true feelings.

"Look, I realise it may seem like this case is solved, but just to be safe, maybe I should stay here for another month or two," Ray suggested, outraging his two employees. On the porch, Axel saw that no one was looking, so he took his chance and ran off with the purse before anyone could stop him.

"Okay, that's it. Captain Man, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I think you just want to stay here and pretend to be the dad in our family." Henry spoke his mind, knowing that it was the complete truth. Ray paled at his words, and Henry knew that he had rattled him.

"Henry, be nice." Mrs Hart told her son, but deep down, she knew it was true too. She had seen how Captain Man had been so helpful with the family and knew that it was what he was trying to achieve.

"No, no. Ma'am, your boy's right." Ray admitted, his heart breaking as he accepted the truth. Mrs Hart looked at him with kind eyes.

"I love being a superhero, having all these cool devices, wearing this snug suit that makes me look awesome." Ray bragged a little to make his admittance seem less depressing.

"But sometimes I get lonely and over these past few days, I guess I got carried away with how nice it feels to be part of a real family." He looked at the family portrait on the wall and knew that even though Henry's family had been so warm and welcoming (for the most part), this wasn't where he belonged. Charlotte got up and checked the porch and saw that Axel had gotten away.

"Aw, man, the dude ran away." She complained, irritating Ray.

"Well, go get him." He replied, not seeing why he had to be the one who did all the running.

"Me?" Charlotte asked in surprise and everyone else encouraged her to go after the guy, so she opened the door and ran out to see if she could find him.

With the quietness returning, Captain Man smiled at the Harts.

"Henry..." He patted his sidekick on the shoulder.

"Piper..." He smiled down at the girl.

"Mom..." He looked at Mrs Hart fondly.

"I've really enjoyed these last few days of being a family man. Thank you for that" He confessed to her, and the mother could see that it was a lifestyle that suited him, just not with her family.

"Well, you should tell the girl you keep thinking about that you love her, and maybe one day, you'll get married and have a family together." She smiled at the superhero's shocked face, as Henry and Piper smirked at him.

"How do you know about her?" He breathed out. He hadn't mentioned (y/n) once in the few days he'd been there.

"Well, apart from Henry mentioning her, it's obvious that you love someone but are too afraid to tell them. I've seen you think about her a lot." Mrs Hart teased him and watched as his ears turned pink. Ray could see where Henry got his observation skills from.

"She's too good for me." He said in a quiet voice, making Mrs Hart put a comforting hand on his arm.

"I'm sure she doesn't see it like that." She reassured him.

"She's my best friend, I can't lose her." He blinked back a few tears as the thought of (y/n) leaving the Man Cave and his life entered his mind.

"If it's true love, she will never leave." Mrs Hart spoke truthfully, knowing that she felt that way for Mr Hart and as a result of their love, they had two beautiful children and a happy marriage.

The door opened before Ray could say anything else and Mr Hart came stumbling into the house. He was happy to be home but extremely shocked to see Swellview's greatest crime fighter in his house.

"Hey." The father said, slightly out of breath from his long journey. A car honked outside as he shut the door.

"Did I just see Charlotte tackling a grown man in the street?" He asked, but his family were too happy to see him.

"Dad!" Henry said excitedly, glad to have his real father back.

"Honey, you're home." Mrs Hart smiled warmly at her husband as Ray felt a little awkward to be in the reunion.

"Yay," Piper said in a dejected voice, sad that Captain Man was going to leave soon, but deep inside, she was also happy to see her dad again.

"I thought you were gonna pick me up from the airport. What's Captain Man doing here?" He reminded them, confused as to why the superhero was stood in front of him.

"We ran into a little problem when you were out of town." Mrs Hart told him the half-truth. 'Little' was a massive understatement.

"Captain Man wore your robe." Piper giggled to her dad, who didn't get what had happened.

"My robe? Why would he--uh, when was that taken?" Mr Hart turned around and was rendered speechless when he saw the portrait hanging over the fireplace. 

"Uh..." Mrs Hart struggled to come up with an excuse, but she didn't have to, as Charlotte came in with Axel. 

"Well...I caught him. You're welcome." She glared at Ray, feeling all sweaty and achy from chasing the man down. Man, Ray wouldn't live this one down.

~Back at the Man Cave~

"Please fix it." Gooch pleaded with (y/n), who had managed to shower and get dressed that morning, even though she still felt lousy.

"No, you broke the damn thing, so you fix it." She told him, taking a sip of her soda.

"But--" The Indian man was cut off as the elevator came down and the doors opened to reveal Henry, Charlotte and to (y/n)'s surprise, Ray. He shuffled out from behind the kids and gave her a small smile.

"Hey, I'm home." The large man smiled at her and honestly, she was glad to see him, delighted even, but she didn't want him to see that his absence had left her depressed and vulnerable. She had way too much pride for that.

"Did you have fun?" The young woman asked him cheerfully, pretending like the past few days hadn't been hell for her. Ray took her untroubled attitude to mean that she hadn't missed him as he missed her and he felt a heartstring snap.

"Eh, not really." He answered truthfully, which made (y/n)'s insides clench with happiness. She felt selfish for enjoying how his 'family weekend' hadn't turned out well, but she couldn't help it.  She wanted him to know that she could give him everything he wanted and more, but like always, he didn't see it and she couldn't put it into words.

"Is Gooch's crap chair broken again?" He asked, walking over to the man and inspecting the antique. Henry and Charlotte flopped down on the stairs behind where Gooch had put his chair, tired and annoyed that the two adults were dancing around their feelings again.

"Yes and (y/n) won't fix it." Gooch tattle-tailed, making the woman's mouth drop open at how he snitched on her.

"(y/n/n), please fix his stupid vibrating chair thing so he stops annoying me." Ray used his puppy-dog eyes on her, enjoying how right it felt to be with her again. This was what he was missing at Henry's house.

"But he broke it." She whined, throwing a mini tantrum at how she was always the one to solve everything.

"But you're smarter than he is." He replied, buttering her up so she'd agree and predictably, it worked.

"Ughh, fine, but just because I'm nice." She huffed, making Ray smile and pressed a kiss to her hairline.

"That's my girl." The man smiled at her, the kiss not going unnoticed by Gooch or the teens. How could they not see they were perfect for each other? His girl? She definitely was.

~A few moments later~

"Okay, I think I fixed it." (y/n) said, putting her rachet handle onto the table next to her. After about fifteen minutes of fiddly tinkering, she was sure that she had fixed the motor. Well, fixed it to a point where it should have worked, the thing was so old, it practically broke itself every time it was switched on.

"Charlotte, go sit in the chair," Ray instructed the teen girl as (y/n) went to sit next to him on the steps. She leaned against him and flexed her cramped hands, the muscles feeling tight after messing about with all of the mechanics. Sensing that she was in discomfort, Ray took one of her dainty hands into his and began to rub away the soreness. She smiled at the warm contact and let her head fall to his shoulder. 

"No." Charlotte flat out refused. She remembered how terrible and painful the chair was last time she was forced to try it.

"Henry, go sit in the chair." Ray switched kids, not wanting to do it himself. (y/n)'s presence beside him was much more enticing than some stupid old chair.

"All right." The boy agreed, not wanting to break up their cute little moment.

"Okay, get ready to relax and enjoy the ultimate massage," Gooch told him as he sat down, not anticipating how bad the machine was. The Indian man pulled the rope start and Henry frowned as the chair began to shake uncomfortably.

"Oh yes. (y/n), you're a genius!" Normally, the girl would've thanked him for the compliment, but she could barely hear him over the noise as she, Ray and Charlotte all covered their ears. The woman snuggled further into his side as the engine's choked growls sent shockwaves through her bones. 

However, the noise didn't last long as the vibrations from the powerful motor made the old wooden chair shake apart, sending Henry to the floor. Gooch watched as his beloved antique broke into pieces. 

"This is nice," Henry commented, finding the quietness more relaxing than the crummy massage.

"If you think I'm fixing that piece of shit again, you've got another thing coming!" (y/n) pointed her finger at Gooch, stressing that she wasn't going to rebuild the whole thing from a pile of splinters and scrap metal.

"But, but..." Gooch tried to interrupt her, but the woman's firey side had come out to play.

"It's going in the trash!" She said firmly, leaving no room for argument. The man next to her chuckled at her motherly tone, happy that he had seen sense and returned to where his heart belonged.

'Let's hope she doesn't see that damn family portrait in with the garbage.' Henry and Charlotte thought at the same time, knowing that if she did, she would never forgive Ray.

[veevian2796]

The Gnomes that live in the dividing hedge that counts as my neighbor and I's fence, keep collecting the gunk that gets stuck in our rain gutters and pickling it. Normally I wouldn't mind as they're saving us from having to call someone to clean them but this has bloomed into a full on operation. They got a business license and started putting ad's in the paper. I overheard one talking about getting a billboard erected on my mailbox. Whoever their business manger is, they're doing a hell of a good job. When I got home last night, there was a line of the little guys going down about 3 houses. All waiting for a chance to get their hands on some of that "Sour Gooch" I might have to try this product now.

[thenewcaptainunderpants]

ACT 1 AFTERMATH

george and harold attend their first day of high school! but its SUUUPER boring. everybody is in low spirits and the daunting pressure of their futures begins to get to a lot of them. george decides this just wont do, so he and harold pull a massive prank

i never worked out the details of the prank clearly, but like. it was bad. really bad.

the principal chews them out but the other students (jessica and the sophies, bo, gooch, dressy) stick up for them, and are then followed by visiting elitinati academy students melvin and erica. the principal hears them out and decides NOT to expell george and harold on the first day, but the fight isnt over. the prank destroyed the entire 9th grade block, so the following school year will have to take place at a school in piqua with free classrooms

the following night, kipper is awoken by the frantic, panicked texts of his uncle, telling him to check his email. kipper is shocked to learn that the 9th grade class of (i didnt have a proper school name in mind) will be taking their classes alongside their teachers at jerome horwitz for the year...

(to be continued)

[skarloey-studios]

Traintober 2024 Day 3: Trust

So today I’m going to switch things up from the usual stuff I’ve been doing for Traintober, and instead of writing a short story of some kind, I’ll be sharing a headcanon (inspired by @weirdowithaquill, go check this person’s stuff out if you haven’t already).

Given the theme of trust, I thought I’d talk about driverless trains - go into a couple of deeper concepts and then round up. (Below the break)

So, how do driverless trains work in the sentient locomotive universe? There must be an enormous amount of trust involved with allowing them to basically run themselves - and it really shows how much we’ve progressed as a society that we’ve gone as far as letting this happen at all. Although, there are pitfalls, of course.

Back in the day when steam locomotives were first created, chaps such as Richard Trevithick and Robert Stephenson - household names now - wanted to experiment with how much these new iron horses could really do on their own… and it turned out that the answer was ‘not much’. They were a creation of humans, and were really dependent on them to do things - without going too deeply into a philosophical debate here, they essentially had no freedom. The driver and fireman fully controlled the engine, and engines were pretty poorly treated for this reason, just like horses were. They were there to do work.

Now, engines don’t usually mind this because they’re generally quite simple minded beings… I mean, if you look at the Railway Series, do any of the engines really get particularly complicated emotions? The most we saw was Gordon’s depression, but that’s because his own siblings were being cut up. The mindset of locomotives is pretty much just ‘enjoy the small stuff in life and be a good engine’. There were some engines who were exceptions, and sometimes it got quite scary for the humans when engines just spoke up with really deep thoughts.

“Driver?” “Yes?” “If engines are just here to do work for you, then what’s the point of everything that we enjoy? If it’s all for nothing?” “… Woah.”

It wasn’t all work work work though - drivers who ‘knew how to speak to engines’ were well regarded in the early railway companies, and given the job purely because they were good at making an engine happy. A happy engine means that more work gets done, and you also get a good reputation - the Great Western Railway was a brilliant example of this, with CME Daniel Gooch letting engines choose their own names and giving them just their names without numbers. It was when larger companies like BR came along that locomotive happiness just got thrown out of the window, and this is reflected in the mass scrapping of the 1960s which gave no regard to feelings of engines (i.e. they were often sold to private companies to be cut up as this was cheaper - these companies often cut corners by not taking the body off the frames before melting the engine down… basically meaning they were still conscious. Even some of the BR works did this to make it easier to melt down masses of engines quicker.)

Anyway, this is a VERY LONG side tangent. How does this relate to driverless trains? Well, when locomotive rights improved massively in most countries in the late 70s, engines still didn’t really have any freedom from crews because they literally couldn’t. So instead the UK Government made sure to make it a requirement that UK railways made tough choices in regard to drivers - only ones who respected engines could stay, and those who were abusive or ignorant were fired.

But as technology improved in the middle of the 20th Century, driverless trains became a real prospect. Following experiments where computer systems were tried in cabs on new build electric locos, it became clear that trains could literally drive themselves from place to place without the need for a driver and wow that is an odd concept for most people! Even with better locomotive rights, it is DIFFICULT to put so much trust in this sentient machine to do the job well - which is why most railways still don’t have driverless trains to this day, as well as it being really expensive to implement. The 1950s saw the first experimentation with this concept in France, where one of the metro lines became semi-automated. The other lines of the metro system followed in the late 1960s, along with Barcelona Metro’s own driverless system - a few London Underground lines went the same way at a similar time.

Since then, a small handful of railways around the world have tried it… and amazingly, it works. The engine is able to control their own speed, but the computer system is there to automatically override if they get too close to another train, and stop the train in question immediately. This has caused some problems in the past on the Singapore metro, when multiple trains were mysteriously stopped at random intervals, disrupting an entire city. There were some wild theories behind why this could be the case, but it turned out that one of the engines’ computer systems was acting up… and the rebellious engine didn’t say anything.

The UK mostly has trains with drivers, although there have been a couple of recent innovations that have forayed into driverless territory. The London Underground was planned to be fully automated at several points, but it has yet to happen (although as previously mentioned, a couple of lines are now automated).

However - despite all of this innovation - there has yet to be a widespread driverless train movement on main line railways. It was only in late 2021 that a train, moving by her own control, ran on a line shared by other traffic. This was in Germany, although the UK is also trying out a couple of similar options, with the trialling of ETRMS in areas such as West Wales.

The engines themselves, of course, are greatly intrigued by the concept - the closest that a steam locomotive has got to this sort of level is Tornado, who was fitted with an in-cab signalling system which is going to be trialled after she is back in steam. The hope is that NWR engines will also be trialled with this same system if it goes well on Tornado… the engines have mixed views on the subject, with some simply preferring a hand at their controls and finding it comforting.

Despite this, it is still a fascinating concept. Ask any diesel or electric engine about the concept of driverless trains, and they’ll be giddy with excitement to tell you all they know about it!

Master Post

[goblininawig]

Endless Histories, Part 1 of 7 @endlesshistoriesfest

A Dangerous Dream (or Why Morpheus Always Has a Raven)

Stitsu, a Neanderthal woman, is the first Vortex on Earth. Morpheus must kill her in order to save the world. But it's not the end of her story.

Rated T | 872 Words | A03 | Masterlist | WARNING: Character Death

A/N: This is set approximately 65,000 years ago, when Neanderthal lived. My conception and the depiction of Neanderthals, is heavily influenced by Stan Gooch’s The Dream Culture of the Neanderthals, and The Serpent Grail by Gardiner/Osborn.

The illustration is inspired in part by the Venus of Willendorf (Gooch posits that the so-called Venus statues are fairly accurate depictions of Neanderthal women).

Fun fact! According to “You’re Such a Neanderthal: How New Research Is Changing the Beginning of the Human Story” (Smithsonian Magazine, May 2019), ‘if you’re of European or Asian descent, up to 4 percent of your DNA was inherited directly from Neanderthals.’

Stisu climbed to the peak overlooking the sacred waters. She had traveled all day to get here, seeking answers. It was a holy place, and she had been here often, but never before on her own. The swirling waters below seemed more ominous without her sisters at her side. Still, she made camp, building a large fire to keep away anything that might be lurking in the night.

Stisu laid her head down, and slept. In her dream, she was still in the sacred place, but all her sisters, aunties and grandmothers were with her. The moon was full and they were in high spirits, celebrating the sacred rites, minds merry with sacred mushrooms.

But then the dream turned dark as clouds covered the bright moon, drowning its light in an instant. Shrieks of panic rippled through the gathering. Lightning crackled down from the sky, setting a tree on fire.

Stisu felt power surging through her. She rose in the air, lifted her hands, and the fire smoldered down to a simple campfire. Cries of terror turned to joy as she looked towards the skies and, with a grand gesture, swept the clouds away. Stisu hovered in the sky, like a goddess, listening as the women shouted her name. She felt as though she could do anything, drag the stars from the sky, shake the continent to pieces, and make it all dance together in celebration of her power.

But her triumphant moment was ruined when her eyes caught on movement in the darkness. She looked closer and was horrified to discover a man watching her. His eyes were like stars and his dark locs touched his shoulders.

Stisu shrieked and pointed him out, calling for his death, as befit any man who besmirched their sacred rites with his presence. But as her sisters rushed at him, they fell down, as if sleeping, with a wave of his hand. Stisu watched with rising anger as the entire crowd fell to the ground, leaving her alone to deal with him. She dropped down from the sky and stalked towards him.

“How have you done this?” she hissed.

“I would ask the same of you,” the stranger answered. “The Dreaming is my realm. And yet, you hold its power in the vortex of your soul.”

The stranger stared at her as if looking right through her, into her past and memory. She shuddered at the strange feeling.

“I do not know,” Stisu admitted. “I came seeking revelation, but all I found was you.”

The man, who was not a man, looked at her again, walked all the way around her with critical, star-like eyes. “Then I will gift you this revelation. What you are is largely incomprehensible: a dreamer born with the power to travel through the dreams of others, or gather them to your dream.”

He gestured to the sleeping figures all around them.

“These abilities were not caused or created. This has simply happened. And now I must put an end to it. I cannot allow a human to wield the power to dream entire worlds…or destroy them.”

Stisu felt a shudder go through her at those words. “How will you end it?”

The stranger looked around at the dreamers once more. “You have created a single volatile dream that will collapse in upon itself, and take the waking world with it.”

Stisu looked at her sleeping sisters. “I did not mean to cause such a thing. I would not wish the world destroyed.”

“No, nor would I ,” the stranger said. “Perhaps you can stay here in the Dreaming. I could gift that to you, along with a transformation that would allow you to visit the waking world, on occasion.”

Stisu looked at the stranger sadly. “But in the waking world, I will die?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

Stisu felt a tear trickling down her cheek, and she made no effort to stop it. She would miss her home and her sisters, but at least she had her answer. She knew what she had to do.

“I accept your offer,” she said.

The stranger raised his hand. Stitsu felt pulsing waves of energy flowing out of her. Her body begin to change, folding in upon itself, sprouting dark feathers. Her chin and mouth turned dark and hard, becoming a sharp, nimble beak. And then Stisu gave a raucous cry as she rose on raven’s wings into the sky of the Dreaming.

Morpheus watched her, a smile playing about his lips.

In time, Stisu flew down and perched on his shoulder, surprising the Dream King.

“Where are we going now?” she asked.

“We?” he asked with an amused smile.

“Yes,” she affirmed, tugging at a loc with her beak. “I thought I would stay with you.”

“If that is your wish ,” Morpheus agreed. “ I will show you my castle, at the heart of the Dreaming.”

Many ages later, Stisu retired – going on to live elsewhere in Morpheus’s realm. But Dream had grown accustomed to having a servant who could fly between the Waking and Dreaming Realms. He enlisted another human - one that died in their sleep - to his task, then another and another. And so it came to be said that the Dream King always had a raven.